David Quinn
What we now refer to as the patriarchy was only too well aware of the dangers of toxic masculinity, writes David Quinn
A teacher was sacked recently from Eton College in England, the country’s poshest school. His error? To post his ruminations on the topic of the ‘patriarchy’ on the internet and to leave it up in defiance of the wishes of the school principal. He has appealed and who knows where the case might finally end up?
Is this a free speech matter? On one level, yes. He is being punished for something he said. On the other hand, he works for a particular establishment with particular values. If a teacher at a Catholic school posted a pro-abortion video, refused to take it down and was then sacked, would we think that was fair enough?
Unfortunately for the teacher in question, Will Knowland, his video presentation was clumsy and poorly-judged”
But how did a video about ‘patriarchy’, that is a defence of ‘male values’ and a man’s world violate Eton’s values? It is a boy’s-only school, after all and for centuries has extolled traditionally manly virtues like physical courage. It is also a bastion of social class-based privilege and elitism.
On the other hand, this is exactly the image the school is now trying to shake off, although given its sky-high fees, that will prove impossible. But if it can’t shake off its deserved elitist reputation, then maybe it can become more ‘inclusive’ in other ways. This would extend to doing its best to avoid accusations of sexism.
Unfortunately for the teacher in question, Will Knowland, his video presentation was clumsy and poorly-judged. One of the things that struck me about it is how it seemed to glorify male violence, not a good thing. It had a strong ‘survival of the fittest’ undertone.
One reason
This is one reason why the headmaster asked him to take it down. When Mr Knowland repeatedly refused, he was sacked. But apparently, he is a popular teacher at the school and a lot of pupils signed a petition demanding he be reinstated.
Is there any way Mr Knowland could have gotten away with a video on the topic of ‘patriarchy’, even if he did it better? It’s a very tricky, delicate topic. Even defending men without defending the ‘patriarchy’ as such, is tricky.
I discovered this myself in 2018. The topic of ‘toxic masculinity’ was back in the news and men were being roundly attacked again. So, I posted the following on Twitter: “The built world around you; men did that. Your house, car, street, plumbing, electric wiring etc. Men. Let’s say something nice about men today.”
The counterattack began immediately. The gist of it is that I was being a sexist pig. I appeared on a number of programmes to defend myself and was very happy to do so. I wanted to say something good about men.
What I posted was not an original thought. In fact, it was based on something the feminist, Camille Paglia had once said. Admittedly Paglia is a highly unorthodox feminist who will frequently defend men.
Recently, in his column in The Irish Times, Fintan O’Toole attacked the patriarchy”
Back in 2013, she wrote the following in defence of men in Time magazine: “Indeed, men are absolutely indispensable right now, invisible as it is to most feminists, who seem blind to the infrastructure that makes their own work lives possible. It is overwhelmingly men who do the dirty, dangerous work of building roads, pouring concrete, laying bricks, tarring roofs, hanging electric wires, excavating natural gas and sewage lines, cutting and clearing trees, and bulldozing the landscape for housing developments. It is men who heft and weld the giant steel beams that frame our office buildings, and it is men who do the hair-raising work of insetting and sealing the finely tempered plate-glass windows of skyscrapers 50 stories tall…The modern economy, with its vast production and distribution network, is a male epic, in which women have found a productive role — but women were not its author. Surely, modern women are strong enough now to give credit where credit is due!”
Controversial
Rather than seeming to glorify male violence, Mr Knowland would have been better to quote Ms Paglia because there isn’t the slightest doubt that what she says is true and it should not be controversial to point it out, like I did in April 2018.
Recently, in his column in The Irish Times, Fintan O’Toole attacked the patriarchy. He accused it of seeking to control women’s bodies. I’m not going to defend ‘patriarchy’ as such, but sometimes the ‘patriarchy’ is a term used instead of traditional sexual morality, and I will defend aspects of that.
It’s true that traditional sexual morality sought a measure of control over women’s bodies but – and it is crucial to point this out – it also sought to control men’s bodies. In particular, it wanted us to behave in a certain way in our sex lives.
It is the sexual revolution that has given men huge sexual freedom with often dire consequences”
Even more precisely, it wanted us to look after the children we had together. It did not want men having sex with all the women they could persuade to get into bed with them regardless of the consequences. It wanted commitment first, and better, marriage first.
In this sense, the ‘patriarchy’ was only too well aware of the dangers of toxic masculinity and the need to rein it in and civilise men.
It is the sexual revolution that has given men huge sexual freedom with often dire consequences. I am not referring here to issues of a lack of consent and abuse, as terrible as they are, but to all the men who walk away from their responsibilities when their sexual partner becomes pregnant.
Traditional male
Like most things in life, this is complicated. It is wrong to merely demonise men. We should be allowed to defend traditional male traits like physical courage and risk-taking, and we also must acknowledge that masculinity can become toxic.
It knows that the male contribution to society is positive and good, and it is also knows men need to be civilised.
Christianity acknowledges all these things, of course, because Christianity has a very deep understanding of human nature. It knows that the male contribution to society is positive and good, and it also knows men need to be civilised.